


Undying

by Undyingthorki (Kyloisadisneyprincess)



Series: Could you imagine a worse ending?! Yes. And I'll take satisfaction from it too. [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spirits, Superstition, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 08:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyloisadisneyprincess/pseuds/Undyingthorki
Summary: Loki can't let go even from beyond the grave





	Undying

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this makes sense! I’m blending a lot of superstitions in here both from my own culture and norse myth. Thank you for reading. I’ve been lurking in the fandom for a while now but things just now got angsty enough for me ha, ha. Expect more bittersweet sad stuff.

Loki doesn’t lose consciousness when his neck snaps, only the ability to breath. No doubt Thanos did this with purpose, had calculated the number of vertebrae before tightening his grip. Loki had cost Thanos an army with his botched attempt to subjugate earth and then the trickster had pulled a knife on him. This is Loki’s punishment. Not to die instantly as some would assume, Thanos considered that mercy, but to listen to Thor’s helpless plees for him to come back. The sobbing fool, not a shred of sense or self preservation is left in Thor. Nothing left to fight for, Asgard was a people. Those people are dead.

Loki wants to urge Thor to run, to escape, to return to earth, or the avengers, or Jane. Anyone that would have him and be able to quiet his rage. Even now he knew Thanos’s ship was taking aim. Thor would die like this: alone, aching, full of failure and guilt. Loki wouldn’t stand for that.

Loki knew he would asphyxiate in minutes if they weren’t blown out of existence first. He could hear Frigga’s gentle voice calling him from the beyond. He envisions himself teetering along the edge of one of Jotunheim’s cliffs. His is chilled, where would he go? What was the Jotun afterlife like? Would Valhalla except honorary Asgardians?

He slips along the ice covered ledge. Remembering that there is a voice yet still louder than Frigga’s.

_Loki! Loki, no!_

_Thor_ his voice makes Loki turn back Thick snow and a roaring wind separate them Loki can barely see his brother in the distance; a shaking helpless form. The ice cliff beneath him begins to crack.

With what is left of his mind Loki throws a spell over Thor, weaves a blanket of protection around him. It is a spell that is not natural to Loki’s own spirit and instead draws upon Thor’s strength and kindness bound together with Loki’s skill.

Spell sufficient, Loki thinks as loudly as he can and hopes whatever will carry him into the afterlife can hear: _I am Loki son of Odin and Frigga. My brother and I always fight each other. But I love him. I do not know what happens next, because this is the end._

There is a sudden brightness after which Loki expects to have no more tales to tell. But this is not the end.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loki hadn’t expected the spell to tether their souls together for so long after his death. But he is with Thor through his unconsciousness as he floats through the wreckage of the destroyed ship. He can hear both their mother and father calling out to him. Loki can’t leave yet. Thor is still in danger.

When a ship arrives to take Thor in the pleading becomes stronger. Loki feels faint. In his refusal to let go he has sapped what little strength he has left. Still he cannot stop.

He tempts the guardians into their adoration of Thor, his form. Carefully placing words and untying their verbal filters. When finally they decide to wake him Loki feels Thor’s consciousness rush through him nearly unseating him from the depths of Thor’s mind. Loki hangs on.

There are traces of him in the grit of Thor’s armor. Undetectable particles of his  lips lingering between Thor’s own as his brother announces his purpose. Loki feels himself thrum when Thor inspects himself during the journey to Nidavellir. A single dark hair found caught in the clasp of a vambrace. A remnant from just a few hours prior They had dressed in haste to the warning sirens. Thor studies it, using both hands to pass it between his thumb and forefinger.

This gives Loki enough strength to urge Thor to rest during the journey and fill his head with sweet things from their childhood. But he cannot find a way to make himself known to Thor, not even in dreams. The low that Thor feels upon waking makes Loki regret trying at all.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the forge Thor is so close to death that he can see Loki. And he is afraid. Afraid that there is a weapon made and no one worthy to wield it. Loki knows that the only way he can help this time is to leave Thor’s side. It hurts him to pull away makes him realize how thin his presence is when detached from Thor’s body.

Loki goes to the tree and is surprised to find another lingering there an older, wiser version of the sapling. One who knows what it is like to burn and fade away; who understands the love of others. They reach out together, the young tree and the old, and create the handle that Thor calls to his palm.

Now Loki feels he could fade away, if it weren’t for the single hair that Thor wraps into the leather of the finished handle, or the snake he carves into the strap. Loki had promised his undying loyalty minutes before his death. Everything Thor was doing is calling him to keep that oath. They had a fighting chance now; why should Loki stop lending Thor his luck?

Maybe he has cursed himself. Or maybe, just this once, Loki’s words are true.


End file.
